Semina Culture

by Duncan, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781933045108
• ISBN10: 1933045108
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-17
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

The quintessential visual artist of the Beat era, Wallace Berman (1926-1976) remains one of the best kept secrets of the late twentieth century. A crucial figure in California's postwar underground, Berman was a catalyst who traveled through many different worlds, transferring ideas and dreams from one circle to the next. His larger community is the subject of Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle,a catalogue to the exhibition organized by the Santa Monica Muesum of Art including previously unexhibited works by 52 artists. Anchoring this publication is Semina,a loose-leaf art and poetry journal that Berman published in nine issues between 1955 and 1964. Although privately made and distributed to a mere handful of friends and sympathizers, Seminais a brilliant compendium of the most interesting artists and poets of its time. Showcasing the individuals who came to define a still potent strand of post-war beat counterculture, Semina Culturesubtly outlines the energies, values, and foibles of this fascinating circle. Also reprduced here are works by various artists and writers who appear in Berman's own photographs--approximately 100 of which were recently developed from vintage negatives, and will be seen here for the first time.

Table of Contents

Director's Foreword	p. 7
Wallace Berman & His Circle: Introduction	p. 8
Semina as Art	p. 20
Surrealism Meets Kabbalah: Wallace Berman and the Semina Poets	p. 40
Semina Contents	p. 49
Artist Biographies	p. 70
Wallace Berman and Photography	p. 304
Chronology	p. 320
Letters	p. 360
Checklist	p. 360
Curators' Acknowledgments	p. 379
Photo Credits	p. 380
Index	p. 381
Colophon	p. 384
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